Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump's nominee for Secretary of Defense, has dismissed allegations and stories about his alcohol-induced antics brought up anonymously by former Fox News colleagues.
Several sources from Fox News revealed the truth around Hegseth's work habits and drinking habits, indicating that Hegseth was a concern for the station's human resources department in an explosive report published by the New York Times.
During a Fox & Friends Christmas Party in 2016, Hegseth's conduct resulted in the network having to launch an internal investigation into an incident. Furthermore, at a wedding of a colleague, Hegseth became so intoxicated that he "struggled to stand upright in a men's bathroom." His colleagues arranged for transportation for him so that he would be able to make it to work the next morning.
Hegseth was also under the influence at events he was working due to his leadership of Concerned Veterans for America.
Multiple ex-employees of Fox News who were colleagues of Hegseth created a seven-page document in which they detail Hegseth's disorderly conduct and alcohol usage from 2013 to 2015, reported The New Yorker.
Hegseth denied all of the allegations in the document, stating that it consisted of "falsehoods from disgruntled ex-employees."
On Wednesday, Hegseth was interviewed by Sirius XM host Megyn Kelly, during which he admitted to his prior drinking habits but continued to state that the whistle-blower reports being published about him were false.
"What you're seeing right now with me is the art of the smear," he told Kelly.
Hegseth was candid in stating he'd had a "somewhat difficult past" in relation to alcohol. A former Army National Guard officer, he admitted to drinking in order to cope with trauma from battlefield experiences.
"I have become a changed man," he said, indicating that his faith and the support of his wife, Jennifer Rauchet, reformed him.
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